Thursday, October 18, 2012

Jobless Claims Soar

Jobless claims increased by 46,000 to 388,000 in the week ended Oct.
13 from a revised 342,000 the prior period that was the lowest since
February 2008, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 49 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a rise in claims to 365,000. The
typical pattern of large increases in unadjusted claims at the start of
the quarter seems to have shifted by a week in one state, causing the
adjusted data to become volatile, a Labor Department spokesman said as
the figures were released to the press. Through the ups and downs, the
level of firings has been little changed, indicating that a lack of
hiring is the main reason payrolls have failed to strengthen.

Of course, one reason that unemployment claims rose is because the previous week's data were bullshit.

This is just getting stupid. After expectations of a rebound in initial
claims from 367K last week (naturally revised higher to 369K), to 370K
(with the lowest of all sellside expectations at 355K), the past week
mysteriously, yet so very unsurprisingly in the aftermath of the fudged
BLS unemployment number, saw claims tumble to a number that is so
ridiculous not even CNBC's Steve Liesman bothered defending it, or 339K.
Ironically, not even the Labor Department is defending it: it said that
"one large state didn't report some quarterly figures."
Great, but what was reported was a headline grabbing number that is
just stunning for reelection purposes. This was the lowest number since
2008. The only point to have this print? For 2-3 bulletin talking points
at the Vice Presidential debate tonight. Everything else is now noise.

About Me

I was born in Tombstone, Arizona, but moved to California in 1959 when labor strikes at the copper mines devastated the Arizona economy. I've been moving north ever since. Pullman is as far north as I care to live and I'm looking toward reversing the drift.